1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an extruder cutter assembly for extruding filled food pieces. More particularly, the present invention relates to an extruder cutter assembly, which includes an extrusion member having a filling tube therein and a cutter member for cutting extrudate exiting the extrusion member to form a filled food piece having the shape of a natural food piece.
2. Description of Background Art
Extruders for producing extruded food pieces are known. Such extruders can conventionally include a pressure vessel for containing, under pressure, a mash of the food to be extruded. Furthermore, pressure exerting means for maintaining pressure in the pressure vessel, a manifold in fluid communication with the pressure vessel, and an extruder cutter assembly, generally located underneath the pressure vessel, in fluid communication with the manifold can be included. The extruded food is cut to size by the extruder cutter assembly.
Food products that can be extruded in such extruders include, e.g., meats, poultry, seafood, cereal grains, vegetables, fruits, and solid dairy products. As specific examples, the mash may be prepared from beef, chicken, shrimp, wheat, corn, rice, potatoes, apples, and cheese.
The food is ground to a particle size consistent with forming a fluid mash, e.g., particle sizes that will pass through a U. S. Screen Series No. 5 screen, more usually a No. 10 screen, and often a No. 20 screen up to about a No. 100 screen.
Water or other dispersing liquids, e.g., 3% to 70%, may be added to the ground food in order to produce a liquid mash. Binders, flavors, preservatives, colors, stabilizers, antioxidants, and the like may be added to the mash, in conventional amounts. Most often, a gelling material is added to the mash, e.g., a settable gum or pectate, for example, guar gum and sodium alginate, in conventional amounts of about 0.1% to 25%. The gum or pectate is set by a gelling agent, e.g., a 0.5% to 10% solution of calcium chloride and sodium alginate.
The present inventor has invented an extruder cutter assembly for extruding a food piece in the shape of a natural food piece. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,773,043, an extruder cutter assembly includes an extrusion member and a tubular cutter member for cutting extrudate exiting the extrusion member. However, the '043 Patent does not include a filling tube for extruding a filling along with a mash of food to be cut with the cutter member. U.S. Pat. No. 5,773,043 is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present inventor has also invented an extruder cutter assembly for extruding foodstuff containing a filling. In U.S. application Ser. No. 09/576,766 filed on May 24, 2000, an extruder cutter assembly includes an extension formed on the extrusion member and a filling tube to allow for the extrudate to exit the extruder cutter assembly from the side. This extruder is directed to the formation of a foodstuff in stick form, not in the shape of a natural food piece as in the present invention. Accordingly, it is necessary to include the extension on both cutter member and the extrusion member, which is not included in the cutter assembly of the present invention. U.S. application Ser. No. 09/576,766 is hereby incorporated by reference.